According to Russian media RT, reported on August 10th, the Russian Supreme Court issued a ruling prohibiting the liberal party 'Yabloko' from participating in the parliamentary elections in September. The 'Yabloko' party refused to accept the ruling and announced that it would file an appeal.
The Russian "Patriotic Party" recently filed a lawsuit, accusing the "Yablu" party of accepting funds from the West, publishing publications through "foreign agents," and violating pre-election laws. They are requesting that this party be excluded from the parliamentary election lists.
On the 10th, the Russian Supreme Court heard the case. Judge Vyacheslav Kliylov supported the claims of the "Patriotic" Party and ruled that the "Yablu" Party violated Russian law, disqualifying it from participating in the elections to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) in September.
"Yabo Lu" party chairman Nikolai Lebedev has asserted that the allegations are "without foundation", and that the lawsuit filed by the "Motherland" party is driven by political motives. Lebedev stated that the party will appeal within the five-day timeframe stipulated by law.
According to 'Today's Russia', the Yabloko party was registered in 2001 as a liberal political party in Russia. It is also one of the longest-established political parties in modern Russian history. However, in the last national election held in 2021, the party only received 1.34% of the votes, failing to meet the threshold to be represented in the State Duma.
According to Western media outlets such as Reuters, among all registered political parties in Russia, the 'Yablon' party is the only one that openly opposes Russia's 'special military operations'.
The 2026 Russian State Duma elections will take place from September 18th to 20th local time. Ten political parties will compete for 450 seats in the State Duma.
